The possessive case is a grammatical phenomenon that indicates relationship or ownership.
A. Read the following passage and notice the underlined words
This is Salma's school. This is a girls' school. Her elder sister's husband is the founder of this school. It Is one of the best schools in Rajshahi. Will you go to the Headmistress's chamber and talk to her about your daughter's admission?
These are all possessive forms of nouns.
Note: The possessive case is formed in mainly two ways:
(i) When the noun is singular, its possessive form will be noun + 's:
For example:
Della's hair is very long.
This is Nazma's bag.
However, in some possessives, the letter s is omitted in order to avoid a hissing sound.
For example:
I have done It for conscience's sake.
You should sacrifice it for goodness' sake.
(ii) When the noun is plural and ends in s, the possessive case is formed by adding only an apostrophe and no s after it.
For example:
She reads in a girls' school.
Horses' tails are short.
But other plurals take (apostrophe + s) in their possessive forms:
For example:
These are children's books.
This is a women's club.
Activity 1: Correct the following sentences using the possessive forms of the nouns in bold:
(i) Nazrul father is seriously ill. He is now at death door. His recovery at this stage completely depends on Fortune favour.
(ii) Mr. Haque is ill. He is on three days casual leave. In case of emergency, he can apply for one month medical leave.
(Hi) Yesterday 1 visited Mr. Islam and Mr. Kabir families. But 1 could not visit Mr. Rahim and Mrs. Rahim family.
B. Here are some more examples of the possessive forms of nouns Bangladesh's foreign policy is admirable.
We must obey Nature's laws.
He was at his wit's end.
I ate to my heart's content.
Everything is at my fingers' ends.
He has lost a pound's weight.
Everything depends on heaven's will.
His house is only at a stone's throw from mine.
It is not your money's worth.
It is a day's journey from here to Dhaka.
C. Nouns in Apposition:
Apposition means "placing near". It is a grammatical arrangement in which two words referring to the same person or thing are placed side by side in a sentence.
Read the following passage and notice the underlined words.
Mr. Rahman, our Headmaster, is a very nice man. My friend. Nazrul and I saw him yesterday. He discussed many things with both of us. He also talked about his childhood days. We also met his wife, Mrs Salma Beeum. She is our English teacher. We like both of them.
In the first sentence, Rahman and Headmaster refer to the same person. The noun "Headmaster" follows the noun "Rahman" simply to mean which Rahman is referred to. Here the second noun "Headmaster" is said to be in apposition to the first noun "Rahman".
Similar is the case with "Nazrul" in the second sentence. It is in apposition to the first noun "friend". The second noun in such a situation is also called an appositive.
Activity 2: Find out the other appositive in the passage:
Activity 3: Read the following passage and identify the appositives in it:
We, the students of class nine, are going to publish a magazine. Kazal, the first boy of our class, will be the chief editor of the magazine. Mr. Rafiq, our class teacher, is our chief adviser. We believe that many students will write for the magazine.